Birchbox. This is the box that started it all, and it’s still one of the most popular, with over a million subscribers. For $10 per month or $110 per year, it provides an assortment of five beauty samples – all specially chosen to meet your particular tastes. Items include lipstick, mascara, skin cream, dry shampoo, and fragrance, all from high-end brands. If you like the samples in your monthly box, you can order full-size versions from the Birchbox website. Birchbox now offers a men’s grooming box as well, with products like hair gel, deodorant, and beard oil.
Although often considered a splurge, subscription boxes can be quite the little life-savers. Say you always forget to buy razor blades until it’s too late (read: you’ve got serious razor burn)? There’s a subscription box for that. Never remember to eat breakfast in morning and feel totally drained by noon? There’s a subscription box for that. Or maybe you never have anything fun (cough, cough, educational) to do with your kids on a rainy day. Yep, there’s even a box for that. While you can’t possibly sign-up for them all, we’ve rounded up the top-rated options to help you make the best choice.
Overbuying. While a subscription box usually costs less than buying all the items in it separately, there’s a good chance you wouldn’t buy all those items if they didn’t come in your box. For instance, a $29-a-month BarkBox subscription works out to $350 each year. Chances are, that’s a lot more than you’d normally spend just for toys and treats. Over the long term, it could add significantly to the cost of owning a dog.
Why We Love It: If you’ve ever had a large dog, then you know the struggle of constantly having to buy new toys for them to chew through. Bullymake specializes in durable toys and chews for those big dogs who can destroy anything they set their mind to. The best part is that if your doggo wrecks his new toy within 14 days of receiving it, they’ll ship out a new (and more durable one) for free.
If you're working out in the same old gym clothes every day, it might be time to switch things up. You fill out a profile based on your workouts and style preferences, and SweatStyle selects a handful of activewear options you'll love. After your box arrives at your doorstep, you have five days to decide what you want to keep and pay for; the rest can be returned.
Birchbox. This is the box that started it all, and it’s still one of the most popular, with over a million subscribers. For $10 per month or $110 per year, it provides an assortment of five beauty samples – all specially chosen to meet your particular tastes. Items include lipstick, mascara, skin cream, dry shampoo, and fragrance, all from high-end brands. If you like the samples in your monthly box, you can order full-size versions from the Birchbox website. Birchbox now offers a men’s grooming box as well, with products like hair gel, deodorant, and beard oil.
3. Papergang: Papergang by Ohh Deer is the ultimate subscription box service for stationery lovers. Every month the subscribers receive a beautifully crafted box filled with snazzy paper goodies like desk pads, notebooks, sticker sheets, art prints and other stationary treats like pens, pencils and washi tape. All the items are thoughtfully curated based on a monthly theme. Each selection is exclusive and created in collaboration with different artists. Their wide selection of products and the remarkable illustrations on each of them is what makes Papergang stand out. In addition, they plant a tree for every four boxes sold. So a big YAY for the environment too! You can also buy other cool stuff like art prints, planners, candles, jewelry and fun socks from Ohh Deer's website.
jess__meyers_We love when the mail man brings us our kiwi crate. This month we created a lemonade stand. With a working cash register we put together, a chalkboard sign to decorate and we made a lemon shaped eraser! This is by far our favorite one. The quality of the items are great. Worth every penny. If you haven't gotten your little signed up go do it now. I'm pretty sure I have just as much fun as jax does. #kiwicrate #welovekiwicrate #lemonadestand #bankofkiwi
Spice up things in the bedroom with this collection of different sensual products — perfect for those Saturday nights when the kids are sleeping at their friends' houses. You can choose from the lube of the month ($10/month), a toy of the month ($25/month), or the full on Spice Box, which features two full-size items, one or two "intimate" items, and two to three trial-size items.
Why We Love It: If you’ve ever had a large dog, then you know the struggle of constantly having to buy new toys for them to chew through. Bullymake specializes in durable toys and chews for those big dogs who can destroy anything they set their mind to. The best part is that if your doggo wrecks his new toy within 14 days of receiving it, they’ll ship out a new (and more durable one) for free.
chocolatephotographerIf you want to buy holiday gifts from small businesses this year, consider getting someone a luxury chocolate subscription box from @chococurb. Their products are the bomb! #christmasgift #giftideas #chocolate #chococurb #chocolatesubscription #luxurychocolate #craftchocolate #holidaygifts #products #food #foodphotography #productphotography #sweets
jess__meyers_We love when the mail man brings us our kiwi crate. This month we created a lemonade stand. With a working cash register we put together, a chalkboard sign to decorate and we made a lemon shaped eraser! This is by far our favorite one. The quality of the items are great. Worth every penny. If you haven't gotten your little signed up go do it now. I'm pretty sure I have just as much fun as jax does. #kiwicrate #welovekiwicrate #lemonadestand #bankofkiwi
Why We Love It: High quality beauty products are expensive and a gamble. Birchbox sends out samples for men and women based off your beauty profile and allows you to rate them so they can further customize your next order. You get to try out high end products to see what works best for you for next to nothing, and if you find something you like then you can purchase the full size version directly from their website. Also BirchBox were also one of the OG’s of monthly subscription boxes.
GoodBeing. Formerly known as Goodebox, this service focuses on organic and eco-friendly products. It offers a choice of subscriptions: an all-beauty box that contains makeup and other beauty products, and a “lifestyle” box that adds in wellness items like sunscreen, supplements, and products for the home. Both boxes are available in a $10-per-month mini size with only two items, or a $25-a-month standard size with four to five items of varying sizes. If you choose the standard size, you can personally select one or two of the items you receive each month. You can shave a few dollars off the monthly fee by signing up for six months in advance.
How Hard Is It to Cancel? If you’re not sure whether a box is a good deal for you, you could plan to try it for a month and then decide. Liz Corry of My Subscription Addiction, speaking with RetailMeNot, says nearly all subscription boxes offer a month-to-month subscription plan. However, canceling your subscription can be tricky. Some services, such as Birchbox, allow you to cancel your subscription online; others, such as Julep, require a phone call to customer service. Also, many sites are set up to automatically renew your contract whenever it expires, unless you call in time to cancel it.

Potential Savings. Having goodies shipped to you in a subscription box is often cheaper than buying each of those items separately. Karr says her subscription service gives her a 5% discount on all the items she has shipped from Amazon. Others subscription services offer even bigger savings. For instance, GlossyBox says its October 2017 box contained $69 worth of beauty items for about $20, and Loot Crate promises at least $45 worth of nerd-culture joy for $16.

What you get: With the Dollar Beard Club, you’ll get all natural beard products such as oils, balm, wax, growth accelerators, and more. All you have to do to get started is build a kit which includes choosing an oil, an essential, a shower item, an accelerator, and a accessory, and you’ll be sent that monthly. However, you can always just pick a single product and only have that in your kit which is by far the cheapest option.